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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Grimm

Grimm
is a show about a man, Nick, who hunts monsters which look human.

Spoilers
Ahoy!

The Hour of Death:

This episode's Opening Quote: “Oh! There is a terrible witch
in that house who spewed her poison over me and scratched me with her
long fingernails.”-Town Musicians of Bremen by the Brothers Grimm

This Episode's Monster(s):

Hundjager:
Hound-like creatures that work for the royals.

Hexenbiest
(former): Witch creatures. Adalind is a Hexenbeast once her powers
have been removed, making her a normal human but she remains a
dangerous foe.

Season
of the Hexenbiest is a thrilling fall finale that instantly ranks
among the best episodes this show has done. It is captivating from
beginning to the end and it takes just about everything this show has
been building up to and unravels it all. The previous episode had
ended with a pretty great cliff-hanger: Monroe catching Juliette
kissing Captain Renard. He doesn't recognize the captain at first but
he instantly realizes who Juliette is. Juliette's reaction when she
realizes it's Monroe is to run out of the spice shop. Renard tries to
follow her but it's too late. She has left. It's notable that two
different motorcycles are seen following these two characters. The
cliff-hanger scene might have ended quickly but the effects vibrated
throughout the episode. All three characters in that scene react
differently to what happened. Renard goes back to his office but he's
too perplexed to do anything. He thinks that Juliette has gotten cold
feet and he's trying to figure out a way to fix things. He doesn't
know that Monroe and Juliette know each other or that Monroe is
Nick's friend. Monroe and Juliette decide to call Nick because they
both decide that they need to tell him what they know. This similar
reaction is different because of how they end up telling Nick.
Juliette just tells him that there is someone else and that nothing
has happened. Monroe is able to tell Nick that something has
happened: he caught her kissing someone. Juliette isn't willing to
tell Nick who the person she's obsessed with is. Monroe tells him as
soon as he realizes who it is. It's the level of honesty that varies
between the two characters. The fall-out of this along with Nick's
secrets is finally what breaks them apart. Nick moves out of the
house and into Monroe's spare room. I may never have been sold on
their relationship but everything that's happened since the cat
scratch has been excellently executed throughout the entire season.

The
show has also been slowly building up Adalind's return to Portland.
She's met with Renard's brother and had some threatening phone calls
but she hasn't really been doing much this season. Her presence has
been felt in the way that she cursed Juliette but that's about it.
She takes center-stage in this episode. She's ready to execute her
plan. She gives Renard forty-eight hours to find the key or she'll
reveal the truth about who he is to Nick. She goes to Juliette and
manages to figure out that Aunt Marie had a trailer and that it's in
a storage place. She does give Renard that information which allows
him to find the trailer. She does get herself arrested in the
meantime as she's hoping that Renard won't kill her while she's under
her custody since that will make him look bad. Her entire plan rests
on getting the key and she's willing to do anything to get it. She
doesn't just help Renard with finding the trailer but she teases Nick
with the information of who the royal in Portland is. She even makes
that deal sweeter when she tells him that it's the royal who tried to
have his aunt killed. She's willing to use Juliette to get as much
information as possible out of her. Every action she does is to
guarantee that she gets that key for the royals. That's partly what
makes her dangerous: she doesn't really have a side with our
characters as she's really using everyone she can.

The
single best part of this episode is that Monroe actually plays a part
in it. Since Hank is beaten up in the beginning of the episode, he's
out of the action for most of the episode. All he does is tell Nick
that Adalind is back in Portland and he's largely gone from the
episode. Hank is a great character but his recent discovery of the
wessen world has pushed Monroe too far into the background. This
episode allows the fan favorite of the show to have a lot more screen
time. Monroe is simply able to bring a lot of the show alive that the
other characters can't with his sense of humor. Monroe doesn't just
play a significant role in trying to ruin Adalind's plan by taking
her care of her Hundjager underlings but also in Juliette and Nick's
relationship. When Juliette realizes that her feelings for another
men might mean that she has lost Nick, she rushes straight to Monroe.
She doesn't just go to him because she's crushed but also because
she's hoping to finally find some answers. When he can't give her
any, she leaves him. Monroe is also the one who tells Nick that she
kissed another man along with his identity at the end of the episode.
Monroe plays a critical role in the relationship and in defeating
Adalind's henchmen that simple makes it feel like he's not being
underutilized. As much as this was Adalind's episode, this was also
Monroe's episode. The series is going to have to figure out a way to
properly balance Hank and Monroe in future episodes because I still
want Hank to be involved.

This
is all to state that Grimm simply had it's best episode of the season
so far. It is in fact the most engrossing this series has been since
the season has began. It's not just that the first half of the season
had been building up to this point but that the writing simply felt
more crispy than usual. It definably has made me way more excited for
the next episode of Grimm than I have been for any other episode this
season (including this one) besides the premiere itself. Don't get me
wrong: I'm a fan of this show and it's one I constantly look forward
to. It's just that if the episode could be delivering more episodes
like this, then I would be more than a fan. It's this kind of
well-written episode that would make me fall in love with Grimm.

Other Notes:

Interestingly,
Claire Coffee (who plays Adalind Schade) was credited as a series
regular this episode. Sadly we don't get Rosalee this episode but
Bree Turner should be back full-time when the show comes back.

The
whole “Too be continued...” line got a nice touch when the
showrunners added an apology right after it. They know how
frustrating it's going to be waiting until January to find out what's
going to happen.